Be Your Own Therapist
by Lama
Thubten Yeshe
Lama Thubten Yeshe gave this teaching
at Assembly Hall, Melbourne, Australia in April 1975. Edited by Nicholas
Ribush.
The way we live and think everything is dedicated to material
pleasure. We consider sense objects to be of utmost importance and
materialistically devote ourselves to whatever makes us happy, famous
and popular. Even though all this comes from our mind, we are so totally
preoccupied by the external objects themselves that we never look
within, we never question what makes them so interesting. However, this
mind is an inseparable part of us; as long as we exist our mind is there
within us. Thus we are always up and down. It is not our body that goes
up and down, it is our mind—the mind whose way of functioning we do not
understand. Therefore, sometimes you have to examine yourself; not just
your body but your mind, which is the thing that is telling you what to
do. You have to know your own psychology, or, in religious terminology,
perhaps, your inner nature. But no matter what you call it, you have to
know your own mind.
Don't think that examining and knowing the nature of your mind is
only an Eastern trip. That's a wrong conception; it's not an Eastern
trip, it's your trip. How can you separate your body, or the picture you
have of your self, from your mind? You can't say, "I have the material
power to separate my body from my mind." That's impossible. You think
you are a free person in the world, enjoying everything. That's what you
think, but you are not free. I'm not saying that you are under the
control of someone else; it's your own attachment, your own uncontrolled
mind that you are oppressed by. If you can discover how it oppresses
you, the uncontrolled mind will disappear automatically. Thus knowing
your own mind is the solution for your mental problems.
One day the world is so beautiful; the next day it is so bad. How can
you say that! Scientifically it's impossible for the world to change
radically like that. It's simply your mind that makes this happen. Don't
think that this is religious dogma; our going up and down is not
religious dogma. I'm not talking about religion; I'm talking about the
way you lead your life, which is what sends you up down. The people and
the environment don't change radically; the changes are in your own
mind. Surely you can understand that—it's so simple.
Similarly, one person thinks that the world is beautiful and people
are wonderful and kind, but another thinks that everything and everyone
are horrible. Who is right? How do you explain that scientifically? It's
just their individual mind's projection of the sense world. Hence you
feel, "Today is like this, tomorrow is like that; this man is like this;
that woman is like that." But where is the absolutely fixed,
forever-beautiful woman? Who is the absolutely forever-handsome man?
They are non-existent; they are simply creations of your mind.
Also, you should not expect material objects to satisfy you and make
your life perfect; that too is impossible. How can you be satisfied by
even vast amounts of material objects? How can you be satisfied by
sleeping with hundreds of different people? It's impossible.
Satisfaction comes from the mind. Your dissatisfied mind wanting to keep
changing from one person to another, from one trip to another, can never
satisfy you. This is just your mind.
So you see, if you don't know your own psychology, you might ignore
what's going on in your mind until it breaks down and you go completely
crazy. People go mad through lack of inner wisdom, the ability to
examine their own mind. They cannot explain themselves to themselves;
they don't know how to talk to themselves. Thus they are constantly
preoccupied with all these external objects while their mind within is
running down until it finally cracks. They are ignorant of their
internal world; their minds are totally unified with ignorance instead
of being awake and engaged in self-analysis. It is so necessary to
examine your own mental attitudes; it is essential that you become your
own therapist.
You people are intelligent: you know that material objects alone
cannot bring you satisfaction. However, you don't need to embark on some
emotional, religious trip to examine your own mind. Some people think
they do; they think that this kind of self-analysis is something
spiritual or religious. To do this it's not necessary to classify
yourself as a follower of this or that philosophy or religion. But if
you want to be happy you do have to check the way you lead your life.
For this you don't need to put yourself into some religious category;
your own mind is your religion.
When you check your mind, you should not rationalize or push. Relax.
Do not be upset when problems come. Just be conscious of them and their
origin, knowing their root. Introduce the problem to yourself: Here is
this kind of problem. How has it become a problem? What kind of mind has
made it a problem? What kind of mind feels that it's a problem? This is
so simple, and when you check thoroughly, the problem automatically
disappears. That is simple, isn't it? For that to happen, you don't have
to believe in something. Don't believe anything! All the same, you can't
say, I don't believe I have a mind. You can't reject your mind. You can
say, I reject Eastern things—I agree. But can you reject yourself? Can
you reject your head, your nose? You cannot reject your mind. Therefore,
treat yourself wisely and try to discover the true source of
satisfaction.
When you were a child you loved and craved chocolate and cake, and
you thought, “When I'm old like my parents, I'll have all the chocolate
and cake I want, and then I'll be happy.” You made that kind of mental
decision. Now you have so much chocolate and cake, but you're bored. So
you decide that since this doesn't make you happy you'll get a car, a
house, television, a husband or wife—then, you'll be happy. So now you
have everything, but there are more problems. The car is a problem; the
house is a problem; the husband or wife is a problem; the children are a
problem. You realize, Oh, this is not satisfaction.
Then, what is satisfaction? Go through all this mentally and check;
it's very important. Examine your life from childhood to the
present—meditate. This is meditation, analytical meditation. At that
time my mind was like that; now my mind is like this. It has changed
this way, that way. You see, your mind has changed so many times but
still you have not reached any conclusion as to what really makes you
happy. My interpretation of this is that you are lost. I don't care that
you know your way around the city, that you know how to get home, that
you know where to buy chocolate; as far as I'm concerned, you're lost;
you can’t find your goal. Check honestly, you'll find that this is so.
Therefore, Lord Buddha is saying that you only have to know what you
are, how you exist; that's all. You don't have to anything. Just
understand your mind: how it works; how attachment and desire arise; how
ignorance arises; where the emotions come from. It is sufficient to know
the nature of all that; just that gives so much happiness and peace.
Your life changes completely; everything gets turned upside down; what
you interpreted as horrible becomes beautiful. It's truly possible.
I'm sure that if I told you that all you were living for was
chocolate and ice cream you'd think I was crazy. No, no, no, your
arrogant mind would say. But look deeper into your life’s purpose. What
are you here for? Gaining a good reputation? Collecting possessions?
Trying to be beautiful? I'm not exaggerating— check for yourselves, then
you'll see. Through thorough examination you can realize that if your
entire life is dedicated to seeking happiness through things like
chocolate and ice cream, there is no significance in your being born
human. Birds and dogs have the same kind of attitude to life. If you
think you're intelligent you should dedicate your life to goals higher
than those of chickens!
I'm not deciding your life for you, but you check up. It's much
better to have an integrated life than to live in mental disorder.
Otherwise your life is not worthwhile, not beneficial to yourself or
others. Ask yourself what you are living for—for chocolate? For steak?
Perhaps for education. But that also comes from the mind. Without the
mind, what is education, what is philosophy? A philosophy is somebody's
way of thinking, thoughts put together in a certain way. Without the
mind there's no philosophy no doctrine, no university subjects. These
things are mind-made.
How to check the mind? Just watch how your mind perceives or
interprets any object that it contacts; what feeling—comfortable or
uncomfortable—arises. Then you check: When I perceive this kind of view,
this feeling arises; that emotion comes; I discriminate in such a way.
Why, This is how to check the mind; that's all; it's very simple.
When you have checked your own mind properly you stop blaming others;
you recognize that actions come from your own defiled, deluded mind.
When you are preoccupied with material, external objects, you always
blame them and others for your problems. Then you become miserable
because you project that view onto external phenomena instead of seeing
their reality. So you can realize your fade-conception view—the
attitude, or nature, of your own mind.
You might think that this is all very new for you, but it's not.
Whenever you are going to do anything, first you check whether to do it
or not and then make your decision. Since you do this already, I'm not
giving you something new; the difference is that you are not doing it
enough. You have to do more checking. To do this you don't have to sit
in some corner on your own—you can be checking your mind all the time,
even while talking or working with other people. Also, you shouldn't
think that examining the mind is something only for those who are on an
Eastern trip. Don't think that way.
You should also realize that the nature of the mind is different from
that of the mesh and bone of this physical body. The mind is like a
mirror, reflecting everything without discrimination. If you have
understanding-wisdom you will control the sort of reflections you allow
in your mind-mirror. If you totally ignore what is happening in your
mind, it will reflect all kinds of garbage—things that make you
psychologically ill.
Your checking-wisdom should distinguish between reflections that are
beneficial and those that bring psychological problems. Eventually, when
you realize the nature of subject and object, all your problems will
dissolve.
Some people think they are religious, but what is religious? If you
are not examining your own nature, not gaining knowledge-wisdom, in what
way are you religious? Just the idea that you are religious—I am
Buddhist, Jewish—does not help at all. It does not help you; it does not
help others. If you have knowledge-wisdom, you can really help others.
The greatest problems of humanity are psychological, not material.
From birth to death, people are continuously under the control of their
mental sufferings. Some people never keep watch on their minds when
things are going well, but when something goes wrong—an accident or some
other terrible experience—they immediately say, God, please help me.
They call themselves religious but they're just joking. In happiness or
sorrow, a serious practitioner maintains constant awareness of God and
their own nature. You're not being realistic or even remotely religious
if you forget yourself when you are having a good time, surrounded by
chocolate and preoccupied by worldly sense pleasures, and turn to God
only when something awful happens. That doesn't help.
No matter which of the many world religions we consider, their
interpretation of God or Buddha or whatever is simply words and mind;
only these two. Therefore words don't matter so much. What you have to
realize is that everything—good and bad; all kinds of philosophies and
doctrines—comes from mind. The mind is very powerful; therefore it
requires strong direction. A powerful jet plane needs a good pilot; your
mind-pilot should be wisdom understanding the nature of the mind. Then
powerful energy can directed to benefit your life instead of being
allowed to run uncontrollably like a mad elephant, destroying yourself
and others.
Venerable Lama Thubten Yeshe
1935-1984
"Most
of the time our grasping at and craving for worldly pleasure does
not give us satisfaction. It leads to more dissatisfaction and to
psychologically crazier reactions."
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Lama Thubten Yeshe was born in Tibet in 1935. At the age
of six, he entered Sera Monastic University in Tibet
where he studied until 1959, when as Lama Yeshe himself
has said, "In that year the Chinese kindly told us that
it was time to leave Tibet and meet the outside world."
Lama Thubten Yeshe and Lama Thubten Zopa Rinpoche,
together as teacher and disciple since their exile in
India, met their first Western students in 1965. By 1971
they settled at Kopan, a small hamlet near Kathmandu in
Nepal. In 1974, the Lamas began touring and teaching in
the West, which would eventually result in The
Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana
Tradition. Lama Yeshe died in 1984, his reincarnation
Lama Tenzin Ösel Rinpoche was born to Spanish parents in
1985.
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Source:
http://www.fpmt.org
